ALDROVANDI, Ulisse (1522-1605) - [Opera omnia]. Bologna: Bellagamba, Benacci, Bonomi, Tebaldini, Ferroni, 1599-1668.   An extraordinary copy containing all the first editions of Aldrovandi's works, monumental contribution to the natural history of the time, richly illustrated mostly by Jacopo Ligozzi (1547-1627). Aldrovandi was an eclectic naturalist graduated in medicine and philosophy in Bologna: he met great scientific personalities of the time such as Luca Ghini (1490-1556), a Bolognese doctor and pharmacologist who passed on to him his love for botany, and Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566), French zoologist under whose influence he began to collect fish specimens which constituted the first nucleus of his collection of naturalia, the famous "teatro di natura". In 1568 he founded the botanical garden of Bologna, one of the oldest in Europe, where he cultivated numerous local plants: many of these, as well as some specimens of exotic plants sent to him by travelers and explorers, merged into his personal herbarium, one of the richest of the 16th century.   The intention of publishing an encyclopedic work, in which his innumerable studies could flow and which could spread the naturalistic knowledge of the time, dates back to the last years of his life: he was only able to print the first volumes "Ornithologiae.. libri XII” (1599-1603) and “De animalibus insectis” (1602), while the rest of the work was published posthumously thanks to the efforts of his second wife Francesca Fontana (1522-1605), Giardino Cornelio Uterverio, Bartolomeo Ambrosino (1588-1657) and Ovidio Montalbani (1602-1671). The largest part of the work is made of volumes dedicated to zoology, in addition to the famous texts dedicated to monsters and the wonders of nature, metals and dendrology. In the extension of this encyclopedic work, the author combined erudite medieval compilation with an important scientific accuracy given by direct observation, a combination which can also be found in the illustrations. “The direct observation of natural phenomena and the need for their classification were the essential reasons for the progress of natural sciences in the following centuries, and therefore the author, who strongly felt these needs and tried to satisfy them, can well be said to be one of the first modern naturalists.” (G. Montalenti, DBI 1960). Adams A-647; BMC NH I, pp. 26-27; Nissen, BBI 14; Nissen, IVB 18; Nissen ZBI 66, 68, 70, 72, 74-78 .   11 works in 13 volumes folio (350 x 230mm). Engraved titles mostly by G.B. Valesio and G.B. Coriolanus, often with the arms or portrait of the dedicatee of the volume, thousands of woodcut illustrations (lacking final leaf with register in volume VI and pp. 29-32 replaced by repeated pp. 41-44 in volume IX, without a few blank leaves, some titles lightly cropped, some foxing and browning sometimes heavier, occasional light waterstaining and little stains, a few marginal restorations mostly without loss of text, some marginal wormtracks). 18th-century vellum, gilt titles on spine labels, marbled endpapers, blue edges (light rubbing, some light chipping at spines, occasional tiny wormholes, some light restorations). Provenance: BAMS (stamp at leaf ¶2 of volume XII) - Sacri Palatii Bibliotheca Crucis Neapolis, former convent of the Reformed Franciscans, which, after various events, was destroyed in 1810. (stamp on title and/or on the first text page in most volumes). (13)

Estimate € 22,000 - 28,000